I was never that big into the matte nail polish trend. I love high gloss everything. The shinier, the better. (And brighter, and sparklier, and glitterier… I’m basically 5 years old.) My boyfriend, on the other hand, is a huge fan of matte finishes in general. He’s also a huge fan of Fishbone, who were the impetus behind his learning the bass guitar. So in a pretty coincidental marriage of interests, he picked up this Manglaze matte polish in Cabrón for me at a recent Fishbone show in town.

(Warning: There is a very slight NSFW artwork under the jump.)
Manglaze claims to be the original matte nail polish, and they have an alternative, edgy punk rock vibe to them. That’s obvious from the name of the polish, Cabrón; I only took Spanish for two years in high school, but I know enough that this is a pejorative similar to motherfucker or asshole in English.

Other shade names include Butt Taco, Santorum and Fuck Off & Dye, to name a few of my favorites. Each shade is priced at $13.13, except for their original matte black, Matte is Murder, which is $6.66. I’m not sure if this bottle was regular price at the shows, especially since it had the limited edition artwork and IME bands don’t tend to like dealing with change anyway.

This is a special LE Dr MaddVibe (aka Angelo Moore, the vox/sax for Fishbone) bottle with artwork by Misae Chibian. Not all shades got the LE treatment; only the shades Cabrón, Fugly, Butt Taco and Nawsome are available. These bottles can currently only be bought at Fishbone shows on the current winter 2013 tour.

Cabrón is a matte darkened navy blurple with multicolored shimmer. It’s absolutely gorgeous wet, but of course dries down to a duller finish that’s still rather visually interesting. I wouldn’t describe it as totally matte. It’s more of a satin finish on my nails. I was tempted to put a topcoat on to recreate the wet look, but ultimately decided against it. It’s got a pretty nice flow for a matte shade — it was easily workable and was opaque in 2-3 coats.
As with most mattes, I did not use a base coat either. Despite that, the wear time has been impressive. I’ve had it on for 5 days now, with only very minor chipping and tip wear.

Storytime! My boyfriend and I met because I was a big fan of the metal band he was in at the time. Does that make me a groupie-turned-girlfriend? Regardless, I got a lot of Yoko jokes.

Manglaze polishes are vegan, cruelty-free and Big-3 free! Awesome!

Price: $13.13 normal retail. I’m unsure of what my boyfriend paid at the show.Where to buy:Manglaze or these Fishbone shows Would I repurchase?: Yes! I’m a huge fan of snarky themed shit like this (or a sucker for a gimmick? You decide) and besides the novelty, there’s a real quality product.

Disclosure: All product(s) featured in this post were gifts. All opinions are my own.